Albertadromeus
- Oldman Formation ( Canada )
- Albertadromeus Syntarsus Brown et al., 2013
Albertadromeus is a genus of ornithopod. The representatives of their single type Albertadromeus Syntarsus were approximately 1.6 m long, two-legged dinosaurs and subsisted on plants. They lived during the late Cretaceous ( about 76 mya ) on the east coast of the Western Interior Seaways. The fossil remains of the genus have been found during excavations in the Canadian Milk River Valley in 2009 and come from the local Oldman Formation. The first description was in 2013 by a research group led by Caleb Brown as a new genus and species, the authors on the basis of phylogenetic analyzes of the genus in the taxon Orodrominae where it is positioned as a next of kin of Orodromeus and Zephyrosaurus.
Features
The fossil record of Albertadromeus Syntarsus allow direct conclusions only on the pelvic girdle and the back part of the spine. The reconstruction of other features based on comparisons with closely related taxa. Taking the proportions of good traditional Orodromeus brokerage, based on preliminary estimate for Albertradromeus Syntarsus a total length of 1.6 m and a weight of 13 kg. Albertadromeus is characterized by a combination of osteological features: The lower third of the fibula is fused with the tibia. The tibia includes at its upper end two distinct processes, and is provided with a pronounced front edge.
Ecology
Although the skull or front running apparatus of Albertadromeus no fossil material has survived, as his next of kin but all were herbivores, also Albertadromeus herbivores is likely to have fed.
Fossil material, distribution and stratigraphy
The fossil material from Albertadromeus comes from a single individual and is kept in the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology under the inventory number TMP 2009.037.0044. It includes some isolated vertebrae of the back and tail spine with ossified tendons, leg and foot bones. They were exposed in 2009 by David Evans during excavations at the Canadian Milk River and come from the upper portion of the Oldman Formation. On the basis of their polarization, the Fund layer is dated to an age of around 76 million years ago and thus to the Campanian. The site was at the time on the west coast of the Western Interior Seaways, who shared in the Cretaceous North America in Laramidia and Appalachia.
System
Orodrominae sp. indet. (TMP 2008.045.002 )
Zephyrosaurus
Orodromeus
Albertadromeus
Haya
Jeholosaurus
Changchunsaurus
The finding from the Oldman Formation was Caleb M. Brown, David Evans, Michael Ryan, and Anthony Russell as holotype for their description of the genus and the species Albertadromeus Albertadromeus Syntarsus. The genus name is composed of " Alberta ", the Canadian province of the discovery site, and the Greek " Dromeas " ( δρομέας, latin for " Dromeus " ) for runners together. The epithet Syntarsus (Greek - Latin for " unified operation" ) of the kind led the authors of the morphology of intergrown and lower leg bones.
Based on a previously elaborated by Brown and colleagues matrix Albertadromeus was arranged by the authors in a cladistic analysis in a clade with Zephyrosaurus and Orodromeus. The exact sister group relationships among the three genera were not resolved.